What Happens To Jamie & Claire In America? 'Outlander' Is Heading To The Colonies In Season 4

There was plenty of drama that needed to be resolved after "The Bakra," yet Outlander took another unexpected turn in its Season 3 finale. Spoilers ahead. After Claire kills Geillis, Claire and Jamie are shipwrecked on Outlander in "Eye of the Storm." Thankfully, the season doesn't end with the beloved couple in the water with their fates unknown and instead shows that they have landed in America in the colony of Georgia. But if you had thought the series would return to its Scottish roots after the voyages in the season based on the (appropriately-titled) book Voyager, the Season 3 finale points to that not being the case. So what lies ahead for Jamie and Claire in America? As you wait for Season 4, you can quench your thirst for knowledge with spoilers from Diana Gabaldon's books.

Claire and Jamie defeat Geillis with plenty of time to spare in the Season 3 finale. Because of that, audiences should have foreseen that it wasn't going to be smooth sailing back to Scotland. Instead, after a delightfully sexy scene, the Artemis hits a terrible storm and Claire is sucked into the ocean, attached to the mast. Jamie stays true to their promise that they won't be separated again and dives in to save her. Within the water, it's a visually stunning and emotional scene. Jamie and Claire's lovehas been particularly beautiful since their sea voyages started, and he's unwilling to ever let her go again.

When Jamie and Claire emerge from the depths of the water, there is a calmness — not just because they are in the eye of the storm, but because they are with each other. The two of them ride out the storm together and land on the coast of Georgia. As for the rest of the people on the Artemis, Season 3 leaves the series on an uplifting note since viewers can assume that Fergus, Marsali, and Ian are all part of the survivor group that landed four miles south.

In November, Entertainment Weekly did indeed confirm that Fergus and Marsali will be returning in Season 4 since actors César Domboy and Lauren Lyle will reprise their roles. Executive producer Matthew B. Roberts also revealed that "home" will be the theme of Season 4. "Over the last three seasons, Jamie and Claire didn't know where they are going to live," Roberts told EW. "They never plant their feet. Now they're getting to that place that they can call home. But the meaning of home is different for people. That's what we will dig into in Season 4."

So does that mean that Claire and Jamie will find passage from America all the way back to Britain? After all, in "Eye of the Storm," Claire says, "It'll be nice to be home," in reference to Scotland. But when you think of the harrowing trip they just made, you could understand that they probably wouldn't be so keen to embark on another transatlantic voyage anytime soon. Plus, Jamie suffers terrible seasickness and Mr. Willoughby isn't there to help him through acupuncture since they presumably parted ways with him and Margaret in Jamaica.

Claire also looks incredibly happy to be in America. That could simply be because she's relieved they landed in a familiar place with people who speak English, but the Sassenach did call the U.S. home for two decades before going back in time. Add all of that to the fact that Jamie and Claire never want to risk being separated at sea again and it seems that returning to Scotland might not be in the cards for them in Season 4. Book spoilers follow.

Season 4 will follow the book Drums of Autumn, in which Claire and Jamie decide to build a home and life for themselves in the colony of North Carolina. But that doesn't mean that they are starting completely over with no ties to their past lives since — as proven time and time again — the Outlander world is much more connected than that. One way that the past will find them is through Jamie's time at Ardsmuir Prison. When the prison closed in Season 3, Lord John Grey gave Jamie his freedom while the rest of the prisoners were sent to the colonies. Jamie's Aunt Jocasta (who'll be played by Maria Doyle Kennedy on the show) is the sister of Jamie's mother Ellen and his uncles Colum and Dougal, and also happens to live in North Carolina on a plantation.

Speaking of MacKenzie family members, EW reported that Brianna and Roger (who is actually a MacKenzie too since he's an ancestor of Dougal and Geillis) will be returning in Season 4. Fans haven't seen Sophie Skelton or Richard Rankin since the fifth episode of Season 3, "Freedom & Whiskey" when Claire went back to the past. But their return in Season 4 is no surprise for book readers as the two of them play a major part in Drums of Autumn.

Through this pair, the show will return to Scotland. Brianna visits Roger there in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But far more interesting is that Brianna travels through the stones at Craigh na Dun to 1769 in an effort to save her parents from a fiery death in America in 1776. Once Roger discovers what Brianna has done, Roger also travels through time (which he's most likely able to do because he's related to Geillis). That means that not only will Brianna and Roger return in Season 4, but that they will eventually be joining Claire and Jamie in America in the 1700s.

Yet, as this is Outlander, don't anticipate a simple family reunion. The Fraser clan will be facing a number of complications that will bring up much of America's sordid past, including slavery and the displacement of the American Indians. There's also the Revolutionary War brewing and the undeniable truth that Jamie and Claire manage to upset their lives fairly consistently all on their own.

Just like in Voyager, there is far too much that occurs in Drums of Autumn to go over here — plus, it will be better to see how the show will handle all of the dramatic storylines from Gabaldon's book. But the major takeaway after the Season 3 finale is that fans should get used to seeing Jamie and Claire in the American colonies. Because while Brianna and Roger will be embarking on their own cross-Atlantic and cross-time voyages in Season 4, Jamie and Claire will be staying on dry, American soil for now.